Planet Vegeta

The home planet of the Saiyan race, it was destroyed by Frieza when he began to worry about the Saiyan's growing might.

Overview

Planet Vegeta is the home planet of the Saiyan race that was later destroyed by the galactic overlord Frieza. However Planet Vegeta is not the original home world of the Saiyans as their original home was destroyed by the original Legendary Super Saiyan, the legend says that he couldn't control his power and it destroyed him and the original home world. There is very limited information on the nature of Planet Vegeta but what is known about the planet is that it's gravity was ten times stronger than that of Earth. It is not known if it's stronger gravity was because it was a physically larger world or just a denser one, it is possible that it is both. It's intense gravity is partly what gives the Saiyans their natural physical attributes and power, it can also be assumed that other forms of life on the planet were naturally adapted to it's gravity as well, the native race of Planet Vegeta, the Tuffles, naturally dealt with the gravity differently, having smaller bodies so that the intense gravity affected them less.

Planet Vegeta appears to have a harsh environment being a desert world with a red sky instead of blue like on Earth, however nothing is ever stated about it's weather, flora, fauna or geology and it is not known if the planet's atmosphere possesses dangerous gases and chemicals that are harmful to human beings. As shown in the Bardock: The Father of Goku movie the planet has two natural satellites however a full moon only appears every one hundred years.

In the anime, Planet Vegeta appeared to be in ruins 100 years before Nappa and Vegeta landed on Earth, by using the Pendulum Room, Krillin, Chiaotzu, Tien and Yamcha travelled there spiritually and were defeated by the Saiyans they encountered there. But the experience was nothing more than spiritual and the group of warriors came back afterwards, this experience is non-canon as anime-only, they don't seem to be under higher gravity and the flashback scenes differ greatly from most depictions of the planet.

History of Planet Vegeta

The Saiyans are not native to Planet Vegeta and are from another planet that was destroyed by the Original Super Saiyan, at some point after their own planet was destroyed, the Saiyans arrived on Planet Plant. The native race of this Planet were the Tuffles who were small, lacked strength and toughness but were extremely intelligent and very skilled with advanced technology. By comparison Saiyans are human-sized, very strong and brutal but lacked intelligence and were a savage people that were thrilled with battle. Despite the Saiyan's powers they were greatly primitive and "backwards" and lived in several clans scattered across the deserts of the Planet, the Tuffles lived in large cities and were very prosperous. For some time, the Tuffles and the Saiyans coexisted until one day the Saiyans attacked the native race, the attack was led by King Vegeta who declared war against the Tuffles, compared to the Tuffles the Saiyans were giants and very physically powerful however due to their technology the Tuffles had the upper hand in the war until one day a full moon appeared, an event that happens every 20 years on that planet, and the Saiyans transformed into giant apes called Oozaru. In these forms the Saiyans easily defeated and destroyed the Tuffles and took over the planet naming it Planet Vegeta after the leader of the army King Vegeta during the war.

Discovery and Destruction by Frieza

The Saiyans were soon discovered by the galactic tyrant Frieza who found that their race was strong and had an obsessive passion for fighting and with this knowledge Frieza began to exploit the Saiyans. He employed the Saiyans to destroy and conquer races of people from other planets which would eventually bring out Frieza's primary goal of ruling the entire universe. Frieza eventually transformed the planet into a military base where his vast army would land and stay, when Saiyans were born Frieza ordered that they be sent to other planets so that they may destroy the planets' inhabitants so that Frieza will be able to take over them. However the Saiyans powers began to increase their strength very quickly which worried Frieza that they might become too powerful. Being so powerful had not kept Frieza from a deep-set sense of paranoia and he feared the Super Saiyan legend as a threat to his universal conquest. Frieza's top adviser and most powerful henchman Zarbon told Frieza to destroy the Saiyan race before they could become a threatening force to Frieza. A few rebel Saiyans sensed this, the rebels including King Vegeta and Bardock (Goku's father), they plotted against Frieza however neither Bardock or King Vegeta was aware that the other was plotting against Frieza and believed they were the only ones doing so. They attacked him individually at different periods however Frieza's strength was overwhelming and he defeated them and to rid himself of the Saiyans and the possible threat of an emerging Super Saiyan he destroyed Planet Vegeta along with nearly all of the Saiyans, the survivors being Goku, Vegeta, Broly, Turles, Paragus, Tarble, Nappa and Raditz. The destruction of Planet Vegeta is slightly different between the manga and anime, in the anime Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta with a Death Ball or a Supernova, in the manga he simply states that he attacked the planet though he does state that he destroyed it when he mentioned that Goku resembled the Saiyan that gave him so much trouble in this case he was talking about Goku's father Bardock. Raditz states that Planet Vegeta was destroyed by a large asteroid during his big speech explaining Goku's back-story before Goku came to Earth. Vegeta had been told the same account shortly after the planet was destroyed, in the anime King Kai also tells Goku a different story, of Planet Vegeta's guardian drawing in many large asteroids to destroy the planet, King Kai may have fabricated this to keep Goku from learning of Frieza and seeking him out. The asteroid destroying the planet story was created by Frieza to cover up that he destroyed the planet so that the surviving Saiyans would never discover the true story behind Planet Vegeta's destruction.